ABC Christmas - C & D

February weather at the moment makes it an ideal time to make Christmas cards! And here I am with a couple of cards for the February instalment of ABC Christmas Challenge. 

This month we have C for Candy and D for Decorations. First up, my candy card: 

I pulled out a stamp set for this I didn't get a chance to use last year. The tree image is so big I made a larger than A2 card - this measures 6½ by 4¾ inches, slightly bigger than an A6 card. (I have blank envelopes left over from charity mail-out greeting cards; I used one of them and sized my card to fit.) I have masked the decorations onto the tree before, but wanted a more dimensional look this time. For the "burlap" tree bag, I found an appropriately coloured paper and stamped a burlap pattern on it before cutting and paper-piecing it. 

With the star at the top of my tree, I'll add this to the current HLS Christmas challenge. 
My first card could have done double duty for D for decorations, but that wouldn't get me more Christmas cards in my stash, would it? 

Another stamp set that didn't get used for the 2018 card collection. The light bulbs are coloured quite simply with Copics, then I added highlights with a white gel pen. I popped the main panel on some festive patterned paper and added everything to a white card base. 

Lots of inspiration to be had on the ABC Christmas Challenge website, so please check out all the design team has to offer, and then come join us! 

Supplies: (candy) Neenah white cardstock, Basic Grey patterned paper, scrap kraft-coloured paper, Ellen Hutson Homespun Holiday stamps & dies, Unity Bit of Burlap stamp, Versafine onyx black, Memento Luxe love letter & espresso truffle & Brilliance galaxy gold ink, Wow clear embossing powder, Copic markers; (decorations) Neenah white cardstock, Lawn Fawn patterned paper, Technique Tuesday String of Lights stamps, Wow clear embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT double stitched rectangle die, Belly Roll white gel pen, fun foam

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Pink Valentine

The last valentine I made was all in blues, but today's valentine is pretty in pink. I also made it to enter in 3½ challenges! 

Okay, there's not really half a challenge. ;) However, on the weekend Ardyth posted this card and I told her I would like to CASE (copy and share everything) it. Of course she promptly replied that she couldn't wait to see it, so... :D As Ardyth did, I made a mask from a die with multiple openings - granted, mine only has three - and used it to sponge my rectangles with two pinks and a mauve distress ink. Before I lifted the mask, I also misted and spattered the rectangles with some shimmer spritz. Then I used a small background stamp to emboss the panels with little hearts in holographic embossing powder. Four "love" die cuts are adhered together for a dimensional sentiment. (Hmm, rather the opposite of Ardyth's inlaid die cuts.) Finally, I added some small cardstock hearts and a sprinkling of pink gems to the panels. 

The *other* three challenges that inspired this card... Inkspirational's photo challenge (pinks and hearts), The Paper Players' "Love is in the Air" theme challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes challenge. 

    

 Supplies: Neenah white & generic pink cardstock, Altenew Tiny Hearts stamp, Versamark, spun sugar, faded lipstick & milled lavender inks, Wow clear hologram embossing powder, Little B handwritten sentiments & MFT Blueprints 29 dies, Tsukineko clear shimmer sparkle spritz, $ store heart punch, Studio Katia pink tourmaline crystals

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A Blue Valentine

Happy Groundhog Day! My neighbourhood groundhog is predicting an early spring. I have a feeing we're both just wishful thinkers. ;) 

I'm going to try to play in more card challenges this month, and first up is this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:  

I adapted a couple of the design elements, but I think you can still easily see the sketch in my finished card: 

I was wanting to make a *masculine* valentine, and this sketch plus the sketchy die cut heart gave me my starting point. The heart is cut both from blue foil cardstock and white cardstock - while the heart looks fine on its own, I like the dimension offsetting it on a white layer gives. Keeping to the blue theme, I discovered this patterned paper is a fine match for tumbled glass distress oxide ink. (The paper is ancient, but this is why I keep almost everything, you just never know when you might need it! Good thing we have a big basement...) Using the oxide, I stencilled the hearts then added a little bit of iridescent medium to activate the oxide plus add a bit of shimmer. I moved the sentiment to the bottom of the panel as I liked the balance better (and obviously the sentiment was too long), and added a strip of the foil down the left side of the card, again for balance. 

One more valentine done! I'm also adding this to the new Just Us Girls word week challenge "love" and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday anything goes challenge. 

Supplies: Neenah white & $ store blue foil cardstock, Heidi Swapp No Limits patterned paper, The Ink Road Modern Love stamp, Memento Luxe Danube blue & tumbled glass distress oxide inks, Wow clear embossing powder, Simon Says Stamp scribble heart die, Heidi Swapp confetti stencil, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium 

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Happy Little Stampers: Watercolour and Metallics

Welcome to a new Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge for the month of February!

This month our optional twist is "metallics". Shocking, I know, but to me that meant getting out my metallic embossing powders and deciding which one I wanted to use! ;) Once I'd decided on gold, I gathered the rest of my supplies and made this: 

To go with the gold outline, I used my Twinkling H2Os so my flowers would have a little shimmer, too. After they were dry, I mixed a little distress ink with water and iridescent medium so the background would shimmer, too. The perfectly sized sentiment would have been ideal between the two flower sprays... but that perfect sentiment doesn't exist in my stamps, so I went for more metallics, embossing the sentiment on vellum and overlaying the main panel. As I decided on a card base, I discovered a matching cardstock for the flowers, and this simple card was done. I am linking it to the current "anything goes" challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

My watercolouring teammates have made beautiful use of metallics on their inspiration cards, so please visit the HLS blog to see everyone's creations! It may be a short month, but you have all of it ahead of you to join us! 

Supplies: Stamping' Up rich razzleberry cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, vellum, The Ink Road Bella Flora & Compliments, Volume 1 stamps, Versamark & tumbled glass distress ink, Simon Says Stamp antique gold embossing powder, Twinkling H2Os, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway die

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Seize the Black & White Birthday

Happy Thursday! I know my teammate Glenda is currently enjoying mild temperatures and the beginning of spring blooms, but here we are ending a COLD and SNOWY January! So I don't mind at all staying inside and making cards. :) Today starts a new challenge at Seize the Birthday, and we offer a fun optional "topping" for you... 

BLACK and WHITE! Black and white together is such a classy look, but I rarely think to use it. I made two:

I decided I wanted a clean and graphic design to complement the black and white colour scheme. For my first card, I went with a white sentiment panel on a dry-embossed black background: 

Although essentially impossible to see in the photo (especially my photos, sigh), the black is embossed with Swiss dots after cutting the sentiment panel out of the centre. I then cut the same sentiment panel in white, embossed my sentiment, and fitted the two together. I added a trio of flowers to add a bit more interest to the finished card. 

It seemed to only make sense to use the leftovers for a second card in the reverse order! This time I embossed the white panel in a herringbone pattern (and left off the flowers, for a perhaps more masculine look...). While I initially thought I'd use a black card base for this, it turned out to look better with a black mat and white card base. To me, at least. :D 
It's fun to see what a wide variety of cards can be produced from a simple black and white colour scheme! Our surprise party guest, Julie, and all the design team have beautiful takes on our theme. Whether you go for black and white or decide you need a rainbow of colours, make a birthday card and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black cardstock, A Muse Birthday Greetings & Studio G stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear & white embossing powders, Spellbinders labels 4 & MFT Blueprints 29 stitched rectangular dies, Cuttlebug Swiss dots & Sizzix/Tim Holtz pinwheel embossing folders, Petaloo jewelled florettes

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Valentines at the Sisterhood

Happy Saturday! As January nears its end, the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers naturally starts to think about the month ahead, and that romantic special occasion... 

Edna is offering the straightforward theme, V is for VALENTINE. Funny thing about the Sisterhood... if I don't make a snarky card, I often make a card outside my regular clean and simple "style", which if nothing else has the potential to make me feel snarky. For this challenge, I went for more of a shabby, vintage, collage style than usual. Here it is:

It all started when I thought it would be fun to use a Tim Holtz paper doll on a valentine, not even remembering there was this bride and groom! I like adding a pop of colour to them, so coloured her bouquet with a faded lipstick distress marker. Then I found this sepia-toned paper in one of my Valentine-themed paper pads. I would have been happy to stop with the happy couple, the blue heart and the Valentine ticket, but thought there might be repercussions to leaving a Tim Holtz product so CAS. :P So I added some stamped hearts and music in opposite corners, and dug into my sack o' heart die cuts for the three pink/rose ones. I just couldn't bring myself to distress the edges of the paper with either ink or tearing, though. 

No surprise, most of the sisters have managed much more snark on their valentines - be sure to check out all the creations, including that of our newest Queen of Snark, Kylie! You need a valentine or two for the 💘 day ahead, right? Come and share your project with us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Basic Grey True Love & other assorted patterned papers, Local King Rubber Stamp music background & Unity All for Love stamps, Memento rich cocoa ink, Fancy Pants Mulberry Road heart & Be Loved ticket, Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ancestors paper doll, assorted die cut hearts, foam tape

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